


Creatures in the dark

by bucciaratissun



Series: Monster husbands [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Folklore, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Magic, Obsession, Shapeshifting, Yandere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:20:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25487635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bucciaratissun/pseuds/bucciaratissun
Summary: A monster dressed in human flesh was waiting for you in the woods.Please consider the tags before reading.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Reader
Series: Monster husbands [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2071155
Comments: 40
Kudos: 187





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the movie “November” and some scary folktales.

“If you help me cross the river, pretty girl, I will give you a kiss!”

You turned your head back to see the beautiful young women standing far beside you near the birch tree, her curly hair red as sunset on a hot summer day and skin white as snow. She smiled widely at you, standing across the river with a big empty basket in your hands, and you laughed cheerfully in return: you saw her elaborate long dress, the hem embroidered with beautiful black and red threads. She was afraid to dirty her new clothes, of course.

“I will carry you on my back if you promise me not to pull my hair!” You grinned and set your basket aside, tucking the hem of your worn out dress under the belt again and returning to the river.

“I promise!” Her laugh made you step into the cold waters, and you shivered a little: even in the summer the river didn’t grow warm, and only the most careless kids would try to swim in it.

You crossed the river fast, doing it often as you were coming to gather berries and herbs almost every day. The bed of the river was covered with stones, making it easy to slip, but you got accustomed to it long ago, living in these lands since birth. Once you stepped on the other side, feeling the ground under your legs, you looked at the lady standing right in front of you: now you could see she was pale as a dead woman, and for a second you froze. The night of the dead was in five days. Was she one of them?

But then the woman laughed again, and you saw blush coming to her cheeks. No, it was silly to think she belonged to the dead. They had never ever come during the day, afraid of the sunlight. The woman was most likely the daughter of a wealther merchant, kept away in the house most of the day - you remembered your cousins who lived far in the city telling you that merchants’ daughters had hands soft like a baby because they never worked a day in their lives.

“Get on.” You smiled at the woman, looking at her gracious features and slim body. You didn’t look like her even the slightest, but you were a woodcutter’s daughter, and every day you worked from the sunrise till the sunset. You sighed, thinking of that.

“You are blessed with the kindest of hearts.” The woman whispered in your ear, gripping your shoulders from behind as you lifted her from the ground, her legs dangling in the air along your sides as you clenched them with your strong arms.

“My grandmother once told me that.” You let out a chuckle and moved straight into the river once more, going twice more carefully now.

Little by little, you carried the woman who were even lighter than she seemed to the other side of the river, ensuring her beautiful dress didn’t get wet. When you set your feet to the ground, the woman jumped off your back with a giggle and reached out to your old shoes. You raised a brow: hers were so much better. Did she want to steal yours? But the red-haired quickly turned back to you and helped you to get into your shoes. Surprised by her kindness, you didn’t realize your feet were dry though you had just crossed the river.

“Be careful on your way.” You said, picking up your basket. “They say there are a lot more bears in the woods this year.”

She nodded at you, her beautiful face shining in the sunlight as you adjusted your dress and moved forward.

“Wait, sweetheart! I didn’t give you a kiss!”

“Don’t you worry about that, dear.” You grinned at her. “I’m not some lecherous man.”

Nonetheless, she went closer to you, taking your face into her soft hands and looking into your eyes. For a second you saw something scary in her gaze, but before you flinched involuntarily she made you froze on the spot with her eyes boring into yours. Her lovely smile had disappeared from her face as she was observing you, her gaze falling to your lips, but then her eyes looked up as she inhaled deeply.

Her breath was cold, her skin felt like ice.

“Soon you’ll meet a man in the woods.” The woman said, brushing away a strand of hair from your face. “A monster dressed in human flesh. He will fall in love with you the moment he sees you. Listen to my advice, sweetheart: don’t run from him for he will find you even at the end of the earth.”

Staring at her in horror, you couldn’t move your tongue, gawking at the woman standing so close you could see the abyss in her eyes. Who was she? And who was the man she was talking about? No, no, it couldn’t be true. You already knew the monster who would come to claim you once the summer passed and the harvest ended. The woman must have taken you for someone else.

“I have already met a man I will be given to.” You whispered, your body shaking. “He’s the woodcutter just like my father and my grandfather were.”

“That pig?” The woman laughed, caressing your cheek. “He’s fat and old and ugly. No, he won’t have you, love. You belong to the man you will meet in the woods.”

Before you opened your mouth to protest, she leaned closer to you and left a tender kiss on your forehead, her lips warm and soft just like your mother’s were. You closed your eyes only for a mere second, but when you opened them again the woman was gone as if she had never existed in the first place. Waiting for something, anything to happen, you waited and waited, afraid to move. Then, as if someone pushed you in the back, you flew back to the river, grabbing your basket and hurrying home. Even if your grandfather would whip you for returning empty-handed, it was better than staying in the forest.

You had soaked your shoes and dress, but you hardly cared, shaking feverishly and running further: your thoughts were all about the woman you met. Did she belong to the dead? Was she the forest nymph? The Devil himself? The ghost living in the woods?

The more you ran, the faster you were becoming exhausted, slowing down until you were barely walking. Then you suddenly realized you couldn’t hear birds singing although not so long ago they were chirping happily on the branches. More than that, you could hear nothing at all.

Terrified, you looked around, searching the forest for the monster she was talking before, yet instead the ones you stumbled upon were the corpses of birds on the ground. The black liquid was oozing from their hollow eyes and beaks. Close there was a wolf laying down near the old oak tree in the very same black fluid.

The Plague. You had carried the Plague on your back across the river.

Clamping a hand over your mouth, you ran till your insides burnt and your knees trembled. You barely registered an empty basket still in your hand when you had finally reached the village, screaming at the top of your voice: “THE PLAGUE! THE PLAGUE HAS COME!”

You were frightened to death to see the bodies laying on the ground in a pool of black liquid, but people emerged from their old houses with leaking roof and rotten windows right away, concerned with your shouting and looking in each other’s faces. Before you registered it in your own mind, you were taken to the village elders who wiped clean your forehead coloured in red. You told them nothing of the woman you carried on your back, but showed the dead animals in the woods, nevertheless, and the elders had covered them with rocks until all the bodies were hidden beneath them. Then they drew circles around those stone altars and sang before the darkness descended upon the forest.

You couldn’t believe the Plague had taken none of your people, but you didn’t feel safe. There was one more village across the other side of the river, and it couldn’t be a coincidence the Plague moved there. She wasn’t coming to take more forest beasts and birds. But no one was send to deliver the news to unfortunate ones living by the other side. Everyone knew the Plague would follow a messenger back to their village, and no one could risk it.

The next five days all of you spent in total isolation, not leaving your houses and praying most of the time instead of working. No one came from the village on the other side of the river, but you knew most of them must be dead by now. You saw the beautiful deadly white face of that woman in your nightmares almost every night. However, by the end of the fifth day the elders claimed that the danger had passed, and you could finally prepare for the night of the dead, and when it became dark, people lighted up the beeswax candles and left pieces of bread covered in salt beneath the trees, hurrying back to their houses. Your grandfather said it was better to be taken by the Plague than disrespecting the ones laying in the cold ground.

You shivered under your blanket, rolling on your bed - a wooden frame with a mattress filled with wheat and barley straw - and thinking of the Plague in a form of a beautiful woman. Why did she kiss you on the forehead? From what you knew from the legends, she always kissed men on the lips, and then they fell dead to the ground, their rotten bodies turning pitch black, darker than the night sky. Why didn’t she take you? Did she take pity on you? Did she leave you because you belonged to that man you would meet in the woods?

You sighed, blinking your tears away. You were alive. This was the only thing that mattered.

There was a subtle light beaming throw the cracks in a wooden shutter, and you stilled. The dead came to your house - your grandmother and older brother were standing outside, eating bread you cooked in the evening before going to bed. Sadly, your parents were never coming with them.

Wrapping yourself into the blanket, you thought of your grandma’s warm hands when she tucked you into bed every evening, sitting beside you and telling you the tales her own grandmother told her when she was little. Your older brother had already been snoring loudly near the stone oven as you listened to the stories about fae and elves dancing in the shadow of the big oak tree near the river.

Now your grandfather was the only one left. Afraid your line would die out, he hurriedly promised your hand to an old widower, a strong man whose children were grown enough to get married and leave his house. Of course, no one had asked for your consent. You were a mere woodcutter’s daughter.

You wiped your tears away, thinking of the light creeping through the cracks. The man fat as pig and a monster waiting for you in the woods. Better to leave with the dead than stay here and give in to your fate, you thought.

Before you turned away, the light got brighter, and you saw the white eye in the crack of wooden shutter. Your dead brother was looking at you through the window.

You didn’t remember getting out of your bed in your torn nightgown, stepping on the floor so quietly your grandfather didn’t hear anything at all. You didn’t remember opening the door and going outside without your shoes on, feeling the damp ground beneath your feet. All you saw were smiling faces of your grandma and your brother, their eyes white as if they were blind from birth. Their gentle voices ushered you to come with them, and you followed, taking a ligthed candle in your arms. With each step you were further from home and closer to the forest, the dead going forward and disappearing into the deep fog that wouldn’t begin to lift until the sunrise. Your grandmother had your hand in cold hers as she guided you into the woods. Charmed with her smile and your brother’s soft murmuring, you didn’t ask them questions where they were taking you.

Suddenly you heard an irritated hiss behind your back, and you woke up from your dream-like state, realizing you were going by the path of the dead. A stong arm pulled you from your grandmother’s grasp, and somebody threw your candle to the ground, stepping on it right away.

The skinny boy with a lantern shouted furiously, “Are you out of your mind, girl? You asked the dead to take you away, didn’t you?”

Oh, you did. Though your grandfather had expressly forbid you from even thinking of the dead when they were coming to take the salted bread left for them, you asked them to take you from utter desperation.

“Go to where you belong.” The boy said angrily, and your brother furrowed his brows while your grandma pulled him by the hand back to the path. “You can’t have her. It’s not her time yet.”

Before your brother opened his mouth, the golden-haired boy raised his finger and pointed to the path, shaking his head. He stayed there, holding your hand until your family turned their backs to you, and you heard the quiet cries of your grandma, her shoulders shaking slightly. The guilt consumed you when you thought they only wanted to take you to the place where you would no longer need to marry and live in want and fear.

“Turn away.” The boy commanded, and your feet moved on your own. “Don’t you see what you’ve done? If not me, they’d take you to the world of the dead.”

“It can’t be worse than here.” You muttered, keeping your head low.

The boy stopped abruptly and stepped closer to you, moving his lantern up so it lightened up your face. You stared in his dark blue eyes in return, looking at his unhealthy pale skin. For a moment you thought he was just like the woman you carried across the river, but he was neither deadly white nor cold like her. If you saw him in a daylight, you’d never think he was anyone special.

When he wiped your forehead with his hand, staring at you intently, you almost flinched.

“The Plague had given you her blessing.” The boy said, shocked with the revelation. “She marked you, didn’t she? Gods, I see you’re a lucky girl.”

You gulped down, hard.

“I c-carried her across the river on my back, and she kissed my forehead.” You whispered as he took you by the hand again and moved back to the village, tugging you along. “But I didn’t rot.”

“Now you never will.” He simply said and kept going.

The blessing, then? So you would never die the same way the birds and wolf you found in the forest did? Confused with your thoughts, you didn’t ask him how he knew of the Plague and who he was himself.

“I’ve never heard about her giving someone her blessing. Didn’t she kill the ones who carried her?” Your voice was quiet as you observed the boy’s pretty face.

“I only know she killed all mortal men. You must be special, then.” His lips curled in a friendly smile for the first time, and you felt your bare feet growing warmer.

The rest of the way back to the village you spent in complete silence, although you desperately wanted to know who was your mysterious savior. Was he the guardian of the dead? But you had never met him trailing behind them before. Was he a ghost? A saint? You thought of the beautiful golden lantern he held in his arm - you had never seen anything like that before in your entire life, the flying sparks inside it surely magical - and realized he belonged to the same kind as the Plague and the dead ones. The boy definitely wasn’t human.

However, it seemed he only wanted to bring you back as you walked by the houses of your neighbors, staring at the closed shutters. Before you reached your house he turned to an old well and said something about washing the touch of the dead away from your skin. As he pulled the bucket of water up, suprising you with his strength - gods, he was thin as the bench of a birch tree - he soaked the handkerchief he pulled from his pocket in the water and gently wiped your palms, smiling at you.

“You aren’t like the dead ones, are you?” You asked, watching him wrapping the wet cloth around your fingers one by one.

“No. Though I am only half mortal, please don’t be scared. I don’t hurt pretty little girls like you.” He laughed at your suprised expression wholeheartedly and splashed water on your face. “And please stay away from the dead for your own sake. What in the world made you wish for them to take you away?”

You fell silent at his question, averting your eyes and biting down on your lower lip. What would he do even if you told him? Killed your betrothed? Then your grandfather would find you someone else from the village. Worse, if no one agreed to take you, you’d stay alone and become a prey for lecherous married men who’d definitely come to you when their wives refused pleasing them. That is, if the boy wouldn’t laugh at your worries - even the daughters of the king married the ones their father had chosen for them.

Without saying a word, you just smiled at the stranger as you withdraw you clean hands, watching your skin shining in the moonlight. It was all too much for you.

“You are pretty.” He said softly, his blue eyes gleaming in the dark as he touched your arm again, picking up his lantern. “Do not worry about that pig. He won’t marry you.”

You snatched your hand away, looking at the boy wide-eyed. How did he know what you were thinking about?

“I might end up as an old virgin then.” You whispered, afraid that the boy would truly kill the man. “Or are you saying all people living in this place will die from the Plague?”

“Forgive me if I scared you, but I didn’t anything like that.” He chuckled, shaking his blonde head. “If the Plague wanted to consume your village, she would already do it before crossing the river. It’s just… you’re not going to marry the man, I can tell you for sure. But let’s stop there for I can’t speak any longer about it. I will escort you back to your house, alright?”

You nodded, standing up and showing him the way without a second thought. You were glad he stopped talking, but the thought of the Plague and you not getting married lingered at the back of your mind. What did the boy mean? If your betrothed wasn’t going to die, why wouldn’t he marry you? You didn’t voice you questions, though. You wanted to hear nothing about all this again.

The Plague, the dead, the boy. It was too much for you to handle. It all seemed like a nightmare instead of reality, and the only thing you wanted was to go to bed and then wake up in the morning, finding out all this was just a bad dream: the blessing, the prediction, the path of the dead, the savior in the form of a skinny boy… this kaleidoscope of events made your head hurt. It was unbelievable.

“Please be more careful.” The boy said gently as you faced the door, reluctantly letting go of your hand. “I don’t patrol these forests every night and won’t be able to save you if you do something stupid again.”

“I won’t. Thank you for help me.” You bowed deeply in front of him and reached for the door door handle.

Once you stepped inside, you felt your grandfather’s strong hand pulling you in immediately as you flew to him and almost fell down on the top of his body. Before you made a sound, horrified he had discovered your night stroll, you saw a pile of ash spread at the door and felt your grandfather’s grip on your hand getting even stronger. Ash? Ash was used to prevent the evil spirits from entering the house. But you didn’t have time to ask the man holding you when you heard the sounds he made - they were almost inhuman.

As you raised your eyes, you saw the boy with his beautiful lantern, enourmous reindeer antlers coming out of his blonde head. The gentle golden light turned into deadly blue as the boy smiled at you, but he seemed no longer sweet and gentle. There was something carnivorous in his gaze, something that made you froze on the spot.

Fear washed over you as you realized his charms had fallen off, making your head clear - he was the one the Plague had told you about. The monster dressed in human flesh.

“What a pity, little one. I hoped you won’t see me like that so soon.” His voice chilled you to the bones. “I’d take you away tonight, but the Plague’s mark won’t let me cast the right spell.”

Your grandfather let out a choking noise behind you, pressing you closer to him as if in attempt to protect you. The horned boy’s sickly sweet smile made you break out in cold sweat.

“Don’t worry about that, though, for I’ll find some other way. The Plague had already told you there’s no point in running from me, hadn’t she?”

He stepped closer, leaning against the doorway but staying outside as the pile of ash suddenly sparked, and the boy laughed at the your pathetic attempt to keep him away.

“ _I’ll find you even at the end of the earth_.”


	2. Chapter 2

That night neither your grandfather nor you returned to your beds. Despite being afraid of revealing your secret, you told him everything: about the Plague and your encounter with the dead and the boy with a lantern who you thought came to save you. Your grandfather, and old, but tough man, had cried upon hearing your story, and you cried too. You didn’t remember him dropping a single tear when his wife or grandson had died, but now his face was all wet.

Once the first ray of sun reached your house through the crack in a wooden shutter, the old man rushed to the witch living in a hut at the end of the village while you stayed home, putting more ash to the door. You didn’t know whether the monster lurking in the woods could walk in the daylight, but you didn’t want to risk it. Maybe he wasn’t as powerful as the Plague if her mark prevented him from casting a spell on you, yet he was obviously strong enough to tear a human being apart.

You had no idea how much time you spent there all alone, praying in the corner, but your grandfather returned with both the witch and one of the elders, all of them with grim expression on their dirty faces.

“Not good, not good.” The old woman whose grey hair were covered with a bleak blue scarf told you, spinning around you and shaking her head. “Not good at all.”

“What’s not good, granny Iva?” You asked, calling her the same way you did when you were a little girl. “What do you see?”

“The blessing of the Rotten One does no harm to you, dearest child, but she gave it to you for a reason. The boy you saw was no boy at all. His scent is all over you.” Her quiet raspy voice sounded like a thunder to you.

“We’ll wash it off!” Your grandfather exclaimed in despair. “I’ll bring water and wood to the bathhouse-”

“Silly man, no water can help you wash it off her.” The elder said in return, stepping closer and looking at your forehead suspiciously. “What’s already done can’t be reversed now. Besides, if the Plague herself had told you it’s your fate to meet the monster in the woods, we mortals can do little about it.”

“But he’ll take me away. He will drag me out of the house and eat me alive!”

“No, my dear. That horned monster doesn’t eat human flesh. He came to claim you.” The old witch whispered, taking the red like blood beads out of her pocket. “To wed you, whether you come willingly or not.”

Horrified with the revelation, you felt hot tears falling down your cheeks, and your grandfather quickly embraced you, dropping a kiss to your forehead. Looking at the two angrily, he shouted, “I’ll better die than give her to that creature.”

“Whether you want it or not, there’s not much we can help her with.” The witch bit her dry, chapped lips. “My magic has never been as strong as his even when I was young and powerful. But I keep wondering why Plague had given you a blessing, yet asked you not to run from the monster. Why? What is the meaning behind her words? What strength did she grant you with her mark?”

“H-he said I wouldn’t rot now.” You muttered, leaning closer to the old man. “Nothing else. What other strength could it give me?”

The woman motioned to the elder, and he returned to the door, opening it a little. Before your grandfather had snapped at him furiously, the witch pointed at something on the floor. As you looked there, you saw nothing suspicious and furrowed your brows. What was there so special? As you turned your head to the woman to ask her, your grandfather suddenly gasped.

“Look! Your shadow!”

Carefully observing it again, you realized yours was much longer than shadows of others, though you were all standing close, and it couldn’t possibly be the play of light. You gulped down and bit your tongue painfully. What was that all about? What was this power, if there was any at all?

You slowly moved your arm, and the shadow moved its own, following your command as it always did. Except for its length, there was nothing particularly strange.

“Ask it to move by itself.”

“What do you mean? How do I ask for it?”

“Just make a wish, it’s simple.”

Your grandfather was pretty much terrified with witch’s words, and for a moment you thought you had never seen him like that in your entire life. The elder, however, didn’t look suprised even the slightest bit, and the old woman was almost eager to see what would happened next.

Chewing your lips to bits, you closed your eyes, scared and confused. The next moment you heard one more gasp, knowing that your shadow did exactly what you demanded it to - detach itself from you and move to the wall behind the witch. Dear God, she was right. The blessing gave you something you shouldn’t have.

“I don’t understand anything at all!” You exclaimed loudly, tearing yourself away from your grandfather and moving back, covering your face with your palms. “Why didn’t she tell me about it? And why give me power if I can’t escape the monster, anyway?”

“If you can’t run… it doesn’t mean you can’t fight.” The wise woman muttered under her breath, but all of you heard her, and you chocked on air. Fight? Fight this deadly creature wandering in the woods?

You asked the shadow to move to the other wall, and it did it again. Dear God, maybe the witch was right.

“Teach her!” You heard your grandfather’s desperate voice and saw him gripping the witch’s wrinkly arm. “Take whatever I have, but-”

The elder rolled his eyes at this outburst, shaking his head with irritation. “Are you out of your mind, old fool? We will do anything we can. I have not become the elder to watch young girls being snatched away by monsters.”

“And now shut up, you two. We don’t have much time before the boy comes back. Bring me the bread, the blackberry, and a few candles, now.”

____________

It had been two long days before the witch sensed your monster was coming back. You barely slept, spending all your time listening and doing what granny Iva had told you, watching the miracles you could now do all by yourself. She was right, the Plague did grant you power, and though you barely knew what to do with it, even the possibility to fight the creature brought you so much joy.

The woman called him the witch boy. You found it odd: was he the son of some other witch living in the forest? Laughing at you, the elder pointed out the clear difference: granny Iva was a woman who learnt witchcraft, but the boy was the one who was born with magic coursing through his veins, able to see the ghosts and cast spells most humans couldn’t. He was only half mortal, and he was probably born to an evil spirit and a human woman. Judging by the huge antlers growing from his head, he was most likely the son of Yeev, the evil deer living in the Northern forests. People used to make human sacrifices to him, bringing him women he apparently mated with. Granny Iva had never heard of him having any children, but maybe one of those poor sacrificial brides was able to bear Yeev a son.

You wouldn’t be able to defeate the boy right away, you realized. Although the Plague had granted you power, it would take time to learn how to use it, and the monster would hardly wait for it. You would have to go with him and figure out how to defeat him all by yourself. However, your magic would be enough to keep him from harming you, and it was already something.

That night granny Iva had given your grandfather a sleeping potion secretly. He didn’t know that you would still have to leave with the monster, and you couldn’t bare watching the old man struggle against it. It was better to put him to sleep.

When the monster opened the door, you had already been prepared to leave and turned to face him, suddely seeing not the skinny boy, but a huge bearded man who barely fit into the door frame. The ash near the door burnt out the very same moment he stepped inside, blue sparks flying the air.

“Were you waiting for me?” He smiled, walking into the house, his body muscular and strong as if he were a blacksmith.

You gawked at him, unsure whether he was the monster you were waiting for. Where was that little boy with a lantern, unhealthy pale and terribly thin?

“Don’t look so surprised, little one. I took this form because I thought you’d like it better.” Crossing the room, he barely looked at the elderly man, snoring lightly in the corner, and moved closer to you as you backed away from him involuntarily. “Don’t be so cold, love. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

You pressed your lips into a thin line, looking displeased and clenching your fists. That monster dared to play with you.

“This isn’t funny, boy. Why would I care what form you take?” You said, figthing the urge to grab a handful of blackberries your pockets were full with and force them down the creature’s throat. “Just get it over with.”

Looking at your grim face, he offered you to take his hand, watching you intently with those dark blue eyes of his, and you reached out to him, biting your lips. You had definitely built up some courage from the night you met him, you thought, as he drew you closer, touching your hair. Running his fingers through it, the boy - the man - smiled at you again and drew a little symbol on your forehead, watching you becoming more nervous. Tensed, you furrowed your brows.

“Let’s go.” You urged him, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the door. “I don’t want my grandfather to wake up and see you taking me away.”

The man hummed with content and went after you, closing the door once both of you were outside. Feeling the chill in the air, you rubbed your shoulder and looked back at the man with irritation. He was still smiling at you, and you didn’t like it.

Turning away from him, you had placed a few blackberries into your mouth, trying not to smash it with your teeth, and then immediately closed the distance between the two of you, wrapping your hands around his shoulders and pressing your mouth to his. The man had opened his lips as if he welcomed you. You felt uneasy when he took all the berries willingly. Apparently, he knew of granny Iva’s witchcraft.

“You can give me more.” He whispered, his short beard brushing against your gentle skin. “It will be more fun this way.”

You growled in frustration at his insolence, grasping a handful of blackberries and showing them into his mouth. Taking them all obediently, the man forced your hand to his lips as he licked the dark juicy drops from your skin, slipping his tongue between your fingers. Your face was growing hot with every passing second, but his grip was too strong to push the monster away.

All of a sudden, the antlers on his head appeared again, surrounded by a halo of cold blue light. The magic was starting to show his true colors.

His mouth was dirty with a few berries that got smashed when you pressed your palm against his lips, and you felt an odd urge to lick the little dark spots in the corners of his mouth clean. Damn, he was using his own magic, too.

“Let’s go.” You grumbled and started to walk in the direction of the woods, not wanting to awake the villagers. The man laughed behind your back and took your hand, speading up.

The silence between you as you moved was unbearable, but you didn’t utter a single word until you finally reached the forest, the mist spreading slowly in between the trees. Glancing at the man, you saw he was still in that new form and chew your own tongue. When he was small, it was so much easier to imagine how you would outpower him.

“Could you please turn into the boy again?” You demanded as he came closer - you tried to hide your fear beneath the irritation.

The man chuckled, “Are you saying you’ll be more obedient if I stay like this?”

Reaching out to the pocket of your dress, you smashed a few berries in your palm, colouring your skin with the sweet juice, and drew a sign on your arm before the monster reacted. You felt the wind growing stronger as you smiled at him wickedly. If the Plague herself had given you her blessing, you wouldn’t become a mere prey of the creature wandering in the woods. You were not a sacrificial lamb.

The man jumped at you the next moment, and you two rolled on the ground, fighting for dominance. Cursing and growling, you bited and kicked and pushed, feeling the creature’s cold hands caressing your body through the clothes. No, you wouldn’t let him take you like that. Not now, not ever. Gathering all your strength and covering your palm in smashed berry pulp, you grabbed one of the antlers, and the man moaned under you, his huge form slowly changing until you saw a skinny boy lying beneath you. Amazed, he stared at you and stroked your hips lovingly with his arms growing warmer, licking his lips.

“You are so pretty.” The boy muttered, looking at you through his trembling lashes. “Kiss me. _Please_.”

Although you wanted to get up, instead you leaned closer, dropping a kiss to his soft discoloured lips and brushing your nose against his. Inhaling his earthy smell, you moved away quickly, glaring at him. Damn it, his magic was still bending you to his will.

“Don’t you understand I won’t stop?” You grunted, squeezing his antler stronger and making the boy wince and moan again, sitting on top of him. “I will learn, and I will fight you. I’m not gonna be your obedient little girl, listening to your every whim.”

“Fight me.” The boy whispered, and you felt something hard rising beneath you, brushing against your thigh. “Charm me; curse me. Do whatever you want to me, love. _Just stay close_.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Come on, love, you know you’ve lost.” Steve murmured against your lips, kissing you again as he caressed your back with his palm. “You have to keep your promise.”

“No, I don’t! You cheated!” You groaned and tried to evade his kisses, cursing yourself for carelessly using all the blackberries you gathered in the forest yesterday.

“Just a little bit.” As he pressed one more kiss to your chin, the boy casted a bonding spell, and the blue light slowly wrapped around your body, making it glow softly. “You know your enemies aren’t going to play fair. If you really want to be a strong witch, you have to remember it.”

He shut you with a kiss, eagerly swirling his little wet tongue in your mouth and moaning when you gripped his horns again - although it often brought him some pain, he just loved it when you clenched them in your hands, kissing you even more ardently.

“You hurt me.” You said with irritation, your knees still burning from your fall.

“Then hurt me in return.” His feverish whisper made you tremble with need as you kissed the boy willingly, slowly grinding your hips against his and watching him blush and moan. You’d lie if you said you didn’t enjoy that sense of control you had over him as you were on top of Steve, guiding him with your hands on his antlers. “Yes, just like that, ahh… You’re so good to me, love.”

Since you were unable to move away from him because of the spell, you thought you could indulge yourself a bit more and forced the boy to keep his head higher, kissing his pretty pink cheeks. He let out a soft sigh, his hands on your back and hips as he gently touched you, pressing kisses to your face.

Well, technically, you did lost him in that fight after Steve taught you how to summon the wind, despite him using a few tricks to outpower you. You lost all the blackberries trying to get to him, and now there wasn’t much you could do to push him away. Thankfully, the boy wasn’t trying to really hurt you, and you were still taken aback by his peculiar behavior.

“Sometimes I think it’s all a dream, and I’m afraid when I wake up, you won’t be here.” Steve whispered to you and moaned lightly when you grinded your hips against his cock.

“You know I can’t run from you.” You grumbled and bit down in his lower lip softly, drawing a symbol on his forehead with you ash-covered fingers. “Why are you scared, anyway?”

“You don’t know how it is,” he said quietly, averting his eyes, “when all you do is wandering in the dark. No one to talk to, no one to touch, no one to share your concerns with, no one to ask advice from. You are all alone in the whole world, and no one cares if you’re alive or not.”

You stilled on top of him, watching his face and furrowing your brows. Steve looked pitiful. But why, dear Gods, would you pity the monster who kidnapped you from people you loved so you would wander the woods with him?

“You can conceal your form. Why not to go to the people and pretend you’re one of them?” You asked, your tone icy.

“Because I’m Yeev’s son.” Steve gave you a weak smile as you stared at him, hard. “I can’t leave the forest for more than a few days. Don’t think I didn’t try, my mother had paid with her life trying to bring me back to people.”

You fell silent, thinking whether he lied to you or told you the truth. You didn’t know much about Steve’s past as he was never eager to talk about it, but you knew his mother escaped Yeev when his son was a child, still. Since he was alone for a long time, you suspected something had happened to her.

“Kiss me.” He demanded harshly, and you immediately attached your lips to his, following his command and cursing the magic he used silently. This time Steve was almost trying to eat your mouth with his, sucking and biting, his hands on you as he started stripping you of your clothes impatiently.

You let out a groan, pushing his chest, but the more you struggled, the closer bonding spell was bringing you to him. Soon you could feel the cold air on your skin as your lower part was completely naked, covered only by the skirt of your dress. Steve growled when he pushed his already hard cock past your dripping folds, entering your cunt gently but then losing his patience and slamming his hips, thrusting into your core painfully as you moaned.

“Steve, it hurts, it hurts!” You pleaded when you felt the tip pressing into your cervix.

“I’m sorry, love.” His voice was low when he bit his lips, shivering from pleasure and trying to withhold from moving, giving you time to adjust. “It feels so good inside you, ahh… Sweetheart, bite me.”

You leaned closer, brushing your nose against the boy’s neck and sucking his skin, touching it with your teeth carefully as the dark spot bloomed on his neck beneath your lips. You couldn’t bring yourself to hurt him badly, and Steve growled, squeezing his eyes shut as he caressed your ass under the skirt. He was painfully hard, basking in the warmth of your soft body, but stayed still to give you time to adjust. You were too good. You couldn’t harm him despite all the hate you threw his way earlier.

“I don’t care how much you’re going to hate me.” He whispered against your lips hot from kisses, feeling your soaked walls clenching him like a vice. “But I won’t let you leave. You can hate me, hurt me, but you’re gonna stay here, with me. Do you understand?”

You moaned on top of him, gripping his antlers again to stabilize yourself on top of him, his back pressed to the huge oak tree.

“This is not right, S-steve.” You said feverishly, bucking your hips as the pain ceased.

“It’s not.” He agreed, kissing you on the lips briefly. “But if you’re going to feel better hurting me, then do it. I can take it. I’ll take anything.”

You moved up a little on his cock, gasping when the boy slammed his hips into yours impatiently, gripping your thighs and picking up the pace. Although he took your virginity not so long ago and it was still painful to have him all inside, it felt damn good when Steve was taking you like that now, hitting that spongy spot that made you mewl on top of him. Slamming that little monster beneath you against the tree with your arms on his antlers, you tried taking initiative yourself, massaging your walls with his cock shamelessly. Steve moaned openly at that, his cheeks red with embarrassment and need, saliva glistening on his pouty lips.

“Yes.” He whispered, closing his eyes, a sickly sweet smile on his face. “I’ll keep you close. Like t-that, ah. You’re mine, my girl, m-mine. Ah!”

You moaned simultaneously with him when he hit your cervix with the leaking tip of his cock again, and suddenly the boy moved over, pressing your back to the ground and getting between your legs as he thrusted harder, touching that spot again and again until you were starting to see stars.

“My girl.” He growled lowly above you, something animalistic, possessive in his gaze. “Mine alone.”

He grinded his pelvis against your clit roughly, making you squirm beneath him as Steve pounded into you, speeding up. You felt his cock twitching inside, ready to fill you up to the brim. The symbol on his forehead started to glow warmly, and you threw your hands around his skinny angular shoulders, bringing him closer, feeling his hot breath on your skin as you moaned his name. When Steve’s hand found your clit, your inner muscles contracted around his cock so hard you screamed, your voice echoing in the forest as you cummed hard, nearly delirious from the intense pleasure. The monster boy above you groaned, chasing his own orgasm and finishing soon after you, his knuckles turning white as he nearly fell down on top of you, pressing his fists into the ground.

You were slowly coming from your high, your body going colder as you shivered on the ground, barely covered by the grass. Steve was near, getting his breath back when you snuggled closer to him, seeking warmth.

“I’m cold. Do something.” You whispered as you hid your face in the crook of his neck. Now he felt so small, feeble. You felt the urge to cuddle with him, throwing your arms around his back.

Turning his head and looking at you with such naked love and affection, Steve left a kiss on your head, saying something in a language you had never heard before. Immediately you felt the heat rising beneath you as if the grass were turning into a warm bed, and you whispered a quiet thank you, relaxing against his body.

“Next time we’re going to do it in bed, Steve.” You exhaled tiredly, keeping your eyes closed. “Maybe I can’t run from you, but you will have to become more civilized.”

“And if I say I like being a beast rather than a man?” The boy smirked and then moaned right when you yanked his antler down. “Yes, yes, I’ll get you a bed! A whole house!”

“Good.” You murmured and brushed your soft lips against his cheek, moving your hand down to gently massage his head where the antlers were growing, making him tremble with delight. “If you want me to be yours, you will have to listen to what I say.”

Grinning widely at you at you like a kid, Steve gave you a peck on your cheek and got up with a groan, giving you a hand to help you stand up. As you rose from the ground, brushing the dirt off your dress and gathering what Steve had left on the grass in haste, you sighed, watching the boy try to erase the symbol from his forehead.

“Love, you don’t have to do this every time you lay down with me.” He pouted as he came closer, asking you to wipe the ash off his skin silently. “I assure you, I can control myself. I won’t harm you.”

Rubbing his forehead with your thumb, you rolled your eyes, “My thighs still hurt, you know?”

“Then I can put some balm on them-”

“And jump on me in the process. Honestly, I have never thought such an innocent-looking boy like you can do all those… filthy things.” You grumbled as he laughed at your words, picking up his lantern from a stump and watching you clean yourself and dress. “Arghh, I’m tired. Let’s find a place for a halt before it gets too dark, monster boy.”

He smiled, lowering his uncomfortably adoring look and taking your hand in his, leading you somewhere further into the woods from the clearing, his lantern lighting the path. It took you a couple of fights to prove you were worthy of defending yourself, but once you followed him on his way to the forest Steve wasn’t trying to hurt you. Instead, he started teaching you magic as the power the Plague had given you was growing. You realized you had a good chance of outpowering him one day.

“Will you like me more if I become more civilized?” He suddenly asked you, picking up a few blackberries from a bush on his way and handing them to you. Furrowing your brows, you expected it to be some trick, but nothing happened as you hid them in a pocket of your dress.

“Maybe.” You said honestly, looking at his deceptively feeble body. “I don’t know how much human you are since you’re the son of an evil spirit, but as long as you try to be good, I promise to stay with you willingly.”

“I will try! I promise!” He snapped his head so fast his antlers trembled a litlle. “I’ll build you a house and make you a soft bed. I promise I won’t put spells on humans unless they hurt you or me.”

Smiling to yourself, you rubbed his hand with your thumb as you kept walking forward, a few blackberries in your pocket. You knew the path you were taking wasn’t easy, but maybe it was worth a try. It was certainly better than hurting each other all the time, wasn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading the story till the end <3


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